1. Field of the Invention.
This invention has relationship to Christmas tree stands and more particularly to a stand which can be adapted to accommodate a Christmas tree having branches extending outwardly from the trunk quite close to the butt of the tree, and to accommodate and hold substantially upright a Christmas tree which has a trunk which is not entirely straight.
2. Information Disclosure
It is known to support trees having non-uniform trunks at points along the trunks above the bottommost tree branches. Such a structure is shown in the patent to Eby, U.S. Pat. No. 4,381,621, patented May 3, 1983. This patent, however, requires a large permanent base member 18 which rests on the floor and fixedly supports a watering pan 44 situated in spaced relation to a block 20 into which a vertical member 22 has been inserted. A trunk engaging means 24 extends horizontally outwardly from the vertical member and includes a Y-shaped member 26 including arms 32 and 34 which form a crutch in which the trunk of the tree is placed. An elastic band 38 encircles the tree trunk and is attached back to the vertical member 22. A difficulty with the Eby stand may be that the support for the tree trunk is only at the base and at one point vertically along the base. Another difficulty is the bulk of the stand for storage purposes during the approximately eleven months of the year that it is not in use. The overall dimensions for storage purposes depend on the lateral dimensions of the base and the stability of the stand and tree when in use for two to five weeks once a year depends on the size of the base.
It is known to use extensible telescoping stabilizing legs on a tripod-like stand. This is shown in the patent to Merrill, U.S. Pat. No. 3,861,629, patented Jan. 21, 1975. This patent requires the use of guy wires to steady the tree, discloses a large and bulky watering pan 10, and shows the extensible feet and watering pan, as well as the guy wires extending substantially above the level of the floor surface, thus substantially destroying the effect of a tree growing in natural surroundings.
The patent to Austenson, U.S. Pat. No. 3,119,585, patented Jan. 28, 1964, discloses a pipe flange mounted in the bottom of a very wide watering pan, a pipe extending upwardly from the flange, and two clamp members bolted to the pipe, the clamp members being designed to clamp around the circumference of a Christmas tree at two separate points, holding the tree butt in any liquid placed in the watering pan. The stability of the Christmas tree support of Austenson is proportional to the diameter of the watering pan, and the watering pan will, therefore, take up considerable space during its eleven months of storage even if the pipe is unscrewed from the flange. Further, the clamps shown will fit only a rather limited range of tree trunk sizes.
The patent to Swearingen, U.S. Pat. No. 2,500,215, patented Mar. 14, 1950, shows a collapsible Christmas tree stand supported on legs extending at right angles to each other. The legs or bars are pivoted, along with a tree holding upright so that they can all lie parallel for storage. Casters are provided at the outer ends of the bars for shifting the tree stand when in use, and this necessarily elevates the bars off of the floor. A permanently installed water cup 6 is welded to one of the bars so that when all of the bars and the upright 11 are folded into parallel relationship with each other, the water cup extends outwardly at right angles with respect to the bar to which it is welded.
There are a large number of other tree stands, most of which are bulky and difficult to store and most of which embody some kind of an integrally attached water bucket or water cup or the like which must be stored with the stand. However, the foregoing represent the closest prior art found in a thorough preliminary patent search made on behalf of the applicant. Neither the applicant nor those in privity with him are aware of no prior art which is closer than that discussed above and are aware of no prior art which anticipates the claims herein.